A conservative activist who scored a major victory this summer when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of ending race-conscious admissions policies at colleges and universities is now working to dismantle race-based preferences in corporate America.
Edward Blum filed two lawsuits on Tuesday through his nonprofit organization American Alliance for Equal Rights, challenging the awarding system of diversity fellowships in the international law firms Perkins Coie and Morrison and Foerster.
REPUBLICAN DEBATE: CAN THE DEBATES HELP WINNOW THE GOP FIELD?
One of the lawsuits filed in the Southern District of Florida in Miami against Morrison claimed the firm has “been racially discriminating against future lawyers for more than a decade,” accusing the decade-old Keith Wetmore 1L Fellowship for Excellence, Diversity, and Inclusion program of excluding “certain applicants based on their skin color.” The fellowships are offered to first-year law students through Morrison and Foerster’s Miami office and several other locations and have awarded 136 fellowships since 2012. The Morrison and Foerster fellowship consists of a paid summer associate position and a $50,000 stipend.
The other lawsuit, launched against the Seattle-based firm Perkins Coie, claimed its fellowship is in violation of the Civil Rights Act by being exclusive to law students of color, those who identify with the LGBT community, and students with disabilities. The fellowship, offered to first-year law students, gives recipients a $15,000 academic scholarship and a paid associate position.
“Excluding students from these esteemed fellowships because they are the wrong race is unfair, polarizing and illegal. Law firms that have racially exclusive programs should immediately make them available to all applicants, regardless of their race,” Blum said.
Blum is a longtime affirmative action critic and created the Students for Fair Admissions, a group the Supreme Court sided with in the Harvard College and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill cases, effectively ending the use of race as a factor in college admissions. He’s now using the Civil Rights Act of 1866 to target firms that offer diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
Earlier this month, Blum launched a lawsuit against the Fearless Fund in Atlanta, which offers a grant program for black women entrepreneurs. Over the past four years, the fund has helped dozens of businesses and issued hundreds of grants that total more than $3 million.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“Our response is simple. We plan to continue to do the work that we do for women of color. As you stated before, women of color are the most founded entrepreneur demographic — they are just the least funded,” co-founder Arian Simone said on CBS News in response to the lawsuit.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Perkins Coie and Morrison and Foerster for comment.